Crazy Alchemist
Chronicles
Notes from the edge of the unexplained. Five realms, one investigation.
01
Folklore
Journey into the hidden realms of myths, legends, and folklore. Discover ancient stories, supernatural beings, and the cultural traditions that shape our understanding of the mysterious world.
The Mandrake Under the Gallows: Folklore, Law, and the Hanged Man
For four centuries Europeans believed the mandrake grew at the foot of a gallows, from the seed or urine of a hanged man. The …
The Walled-Up Bride: The Buildings That Demanded a Life
The most famous ballad family of the Balkans puts a living woman inside a wall. Vuk Karadžić collected it, Jacob Grimm loved it, …
The Fern Flower
On the shortest night of the year, across Slavic and Baltic lands, people hunted a flower that ferns cannot grow. The Kupala …
The Nart Sagas of the Caucasus
The Caucasus mountains preserved a complete mythology that almost nobody in the West has heard of. Four peoples (Ossetians, Adyghe …
02
History
Explore the dark side of history: vampire scares, witch trials, prophetic visions, heresies, and hauntings. Primary sources and clear analysis separate belief from fact.
The Vampire Files: Real Cases from Five Centuries of Records
Court verdicts, military reports, newspaper dispatches: the documented vampire cases of the Balkans, from a licensed staking in …
The City That Barely Burned: What Basel's Witch Files Actually Say
Friedrich Fischer went into the Basel state archive in 1840 looking for cases of somnambulism. What he found were the city's witch …
Zosia of Pień: The Woman They Locked Into Her Grave
A young woman was buried in 17th-century Poland with a sickle across her throat and a padlock on her foot, so she could not rise. …
The Magic Garden of Heidelberg: The Winter King's Eighth Wonder
The Hortus Palatinus was the Eighth Wonder of its day: a machine-garden of singing statues and water organs, built by the Winter …
03
Esoterica
Explore the mysteries of the universe, hidden realms of esoteric knowledge, and secrets of the occult. Discover ancient rituals, mystical practices, and forbidden wisdom.
The Picatrix: How an Arabic Grimoire Taught Europe to Trap Planets in Talismans
The Picatrix, the Latin name of the Arabic Ghayat al-Hakim, is the grimoire of astral magic that taught Europe to make planetary …
Stigmata: The Wounds That Follow the Images
In 1224 Francis of Assisi came down from a mountain marked, and a phenomenon with a start date entered history. Doctors have …
The Heidenloch: A Hole That Has Been Answering Questions for 800 Years
Above Heidelberg, behind an iron grate, a shaft drops 55 meters into bare sandstone. Archaeologists read it as a failed monastery …
The Unforgivable Sin of Not Dying
Gilgamesh was told to give up, and five Tang emperors died of the pills that were supposed to save them. A Russian librarian who …
04
Nature & Science
Herbs, healing, scientific curiosities, and the stranger side of the natural world. From ancient plant medicine to modern mysteries of the body and mind.
Can Organs Hold Memories? What Transplant Stories and the New Science Suggest
Claire Sylvia woke from a heart-lung transplant craving beer and chicken nuggets, foods she had never liked. Her donor, an …
The Science of the Love Potion
From the Marquis de Sade's poisoned sweets to the celery on your plate, the history of the love potion is a history of people …
Ergot and Saint Anthony's Fire: The Fungus Blamed for Everything
Ergot, the fungus on rye, caused a real medieval plague of gangrene and madness. Then it became history's favourite explanation …
The Bark That Drew the Map: Quinine, the Fever Tree, and the Drink That Came From Malaria
Quinine, the alkaloid in the bark of the Andean cinchona tree, was the first effective treatment for malaria and the only one for …
05
Media
Reviews and guides to books, films, and shows across myth, history, and the occult—what's worth your time and why in our curated selection of mystical media.
Romani Folk Tales from Transylvania: Heinrich von Wlislocki and the Spirits of the Gypsy Camp
In the summer of 1883 Heinrich von Wlislocki wandered with tent-dwelling Roma through southern Transylvania and came back with …
The Demons Born from Adam: A 1641 Scholar Reads Jewish Demonology
A Lutheran Hebraist at Altdorf read Jewish angelology and demonology in the original and set it beside the Church Fathers. His …
Midsommar (2019): The Real Folklore Ari Aster Wove, and the Parts He Invented
The maypole is a German import. The phallic reading of it is debunked folk-etymology. The ättestupa cliff was never a real …
Hereditary (2018): The Real Paimon Behind A24's Scariest Film
Hereditary crowns a demon named Paimon, a real King from the 17th-century Lesser Key of Solomon. Ari Aster lifted the name, the …